Despite lots of them failing, Hollywood presses on with adapting video games into movies, and here's what's coming in that regard for 2021. For decades, the "video game movie curse" has been a phrase thrown around quite often, and not for no reason, as there has indeed been lots and lots of terrible movies based on video games. At least some of those were a fun kind of terrible, such as 1994's Street Fighter. Sadly, more have been just plain dreadful, such as half of Uwe Boll's filmography.
Still, it hasn't been all bad. While 1995's Mortal Kombat wasn't a critical darling, it proved popular and remains so today. Despite the trailers looking iffy, this year's Sonic the Hedgehog movie earned a lot of praise, as did the surprisingly hilarious Detective Pikachu in 2019. Even The Angry Birds Movie 2 became a surprising critical favorite. So while the success rate may be way worse than most would like, not every video game movie isn't worthwhile, with some winning over audiences, critics, or both.
Even though 2020 has seemed to stretch on for approximately 20 years at this point, 2021 is in truth just around the corner, and presuming theatrical releases ever get back to normal, holds some fun for video game-loving movie buffs. And what's more, the films covered below likely won't be the end of the line, as more video game movies will likely be confirmed for 2021 as time goes on. Without any further ado, it's time to press the start button.
As mentioned, the original Mortal Kombat movie has lots of fans. Sadly, its sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, is generally regarded as one of the worst video game movies ever made. Now, the iconic fighting game franchise gets a shot at big screen redemption. Australian newcomer Simon McQuoid directs, with horror maestro James Wan producing. Ludi Lin, who appeared in the 2017 Power Rangers reboot, is set to play Liu Kang, with The Raid's Joe Taslim playing Sub-Zero. Other cast members so far include Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Josh Lawson as Kano, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, and Elissa Cadwell as Nitara.
One of the biggest issues some had with the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie was its PG-13 rating, which didn't allow it to really let loose with the decidedly R-rated blood and guts the games are known for. Writer Greg Russo has said that the reboot will be a hard-R, and include fatalities taken directly from the games. With lots of positive buzz surrounding the project from Mortal Kombat fans, this could be an early part of the year sleeper hit.
In the early 2000s, Angelina Jolie became the first actress to bring globe-trotting treasure hunter Lara Croft to the big screen, in a pair of commercially successful but critically lambasted action/adventure films. After a hiatus, Tomb Raider returned to the big screen in 2018 with Alicia Vakander taking over as Lara Croft. Reviews were better, but still not great, and the box office was so-so. Surprisingly, a sequel is still on the way, although one wonders if it will keep its early 2021 release date, as it's not entirely clear if the film has even started shooting yet.
Production was originally slated to begin in spring 2020, which was then pushed to summer 2020, and information isn't publicly available as to whether or not that plan stuck. Logic would point to no, since when a big film starts shooting, word almost always gets out. For now though, fans should remain cautiously hopeful for a 2021 release. albeit probably not one six months from this writing. Not even Lara Croft can outmaneuver the Coronavirus.
Monster Hunter, loosely based on the series of action RPG games made by Capcom, reunites director Paul W.S. Anderson with his Resident Evil series star - and wife - Milla Jovovich. With Anderson and Jovovich involved, Resident Evil game fans likely aren't too surprised that Monster Hunter is going the "loosely based on" route, as it would seem Anderson is allergic to accurate video game adaptations. On the other hand though, the Resident Evil movies were incredibly successful at the box office, so maybe Anderson knows best in that regard. Still, Monster Hunter fans shouldn't get their hopes up for a movie resembling the games they love.
The Monster Hunter movie sees a United Nations military team, including Jovovich and Ron Perlman, travel through a portal to a world akin to the games, where hunters battle enormous beasts. They then have to unite to prevent the monsters from escaping onto Earth. So yeah, not at all like the games, really. Apparently Anderson is fine with another video game fandom hating him and Jovovich. One can hope for the best though, in that the movie will still be a fun, exciting action romp.
The Uncharted games are some of the most beloved in recent memory, and have earned raves on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Yet, that love has so far failed to translate into a movie, despite how undeniably cinematic the games can be. An Uncharted movie has been in some form of development since 2008, and in the decade-plus since then, the project has steadily met roadblock after roadblock and setback after setback. Several directors and stars have become attached, and then exited, along the way, including Mark Wahlberg.
In 2017, the decision was made to have the Uncharted movie be a prequel to the games, with Tom Holland cast as a young Nathan Drake. Since then though, Shawn Levy, Dan Trachtenberg, and Travis Knight have all come and gone as director, making some wonder if the project was indeed cursed. With Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer at the helm, Uncharted finally began filming in March 2020, then was almost immediately shut down due to the Coronavirus. It started again in July, then stopped due to COVID again in August. Filming is currently happening again in Germany, so hopefully things can stay on track going forward.
